Skip to main content

The Black Fire Documentary: Records, Radio, Rhythms, and the Revolution

Available for campus showings, The Black Fire Documentary highlights the history of Washington, DC music and culture as told by some of the areas well-known artists from the 1970s influenced by Black Fire Records, an independent, Black-owned music label. 

Take a look at the below trailer to see if you recognize DC's music legends.

If your university, arts, , history, music and culture organization would be interested in showing The Black Fire Documentary, please contact plunkyb@gmail.com.

The Black Fire Documentary

Records, Radio, Rhythms, and the Revolution

Announcement of Limited Engagement Screenings and Performances

The Black Fire Documentary is a powerful short film which explores the history of Washington, DC music and culture by highlighting the recordings, art, messaging and people involved and influenced by Black Fire Records, the black-owned, independent label established in the mid-1970s in the Nation’s Capital.

Black Fire Records was founded by Jimmy Gray and J. Plunky Branch, two iconic names in the music business, synonymous with creativity and commitment. The company was established to amplify and produce culturally relevant jazz and progressive original music for the Washington, DC community. This small, independent label would go on to revolutionize the music business, nationally and internationally.

The acclaimed, 28-minute Black Fire Documentary recounts the story of the label’s founders and the musicians, producers and radio personalities they influenced. The film depicts iconic images of the 1970s & 80s and speaks to how the music and activism of that era shaped the terrain of independent music business and paved the way for innovative jazz, hip-hop, deejays and Afro-future creatives.

Campus screenings

The Black Fire Documentary is now available for limited engagements and the film can be paired with live concert performances, master classes, Black music business seminars, and the Black Fire art exhibition.

Live Performances

• Plunky & Oneness of Juju

• Experience Unlimited

• David Murry

• Other notable jazz, soul, African and go-go funk groups

Master Classes

• Lectures and discussions on Black music, art, history, and culture - past, present and Afro-future.

• Modern music production techniques.

• Sessions with Plunky, Sugarbear (E.U.), musicologists, historians and others who appear in the film

Business Seminars

• The history of the music industry.

• Current music business practices.

• Publishing, copyright, licensing.

• New media trends.

• Marketing.

• The futures of independent musicians, producers, and entrepreneurs.

Black Fire Art

• A exhibition of the storied album artwork, logos, graphics and artifacts of the Black Fire Record company.

“In the 1970s, Washington-based Black Fire Records was simultaneously an incubator and reliquary of D.C.’s African American music and culture and a living symbol of the Black Power and Black Consciousness movements.” - Michael J. West, Washington Post

The Black Fire Documentary is presented by Black Fire Films, LLC and the Home Rule Music and Film Preservation Society, Inc. of Washington, DC.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Howard Hires Hannah-Jones

  Nikole Hannah-Jones reminds us all why HBCUs were created in the first place. (July 7, 2021) -  Howard University offered an olive branch to Jones when her own alma mater, the University of North Carolina, chose not to offer this great talent in journalism a tenured professor position. [ Alumus Ta-Nahisi Coates  joins Howard roster] ICYMI, Jones is the creator of The 1619 Project, a documentary that chronicles the early institution of slavery and its role in shaping the Americas we know today. Source: The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones. The Project has garnered both acceptance and criticism. Those who support the vision understand that the truths about slavery have, throughout American history, been either whitewashed, or not taught at all, diminishing the roles and treatment of the African nations who built it. Slavery, in all fifty states (including the ‘stateless’ District of Columbia) built an economic powerhouse infrastructure that caused the United State...

DC Affordable Housing Realized?

 From the Office of DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser (Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser celebrated the opening of the Todd A. Lee Senior Residences at Kennedy Street, a 38-unit, all-affordable senior community located in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Ward 4. All 38 apartments are for residents who are 55 or older and earn no more than 50 percent of the area median income. “The Todd A. Lee Senior Residences embody our DC values and represent the importance of having safe and affordable homes for our seniors to age in place, in the communities they know and love,” said Mayor Bowser. “Todd’s legacy will live on through the many families he helped stay in DC, through the innovative programs he created, and now through these beautiful homes for our seniors.” The Todd A. Lee Senior Residences are a result of a solicitation to transform vacant land into affordable housing by the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) who also provided a $7.4 million loan from th...

First Family Attends Zion Baptist Church

The First Family attended the historic Zion Baptist Church today in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The church was founded in 1864 by African Americans who migrated to Washington from Fredericksburg, VA and is currently pastored by Rev. Keith Byrd, Sr. who employed the congregation today to "be a source of hope." Dr. King's 'Letter From a Birmingham Jai l' was recited to the parishoners while the Sunday program featured a picture of Dr. King on the cover along with the words "I Have A Dream". The First Family attending church service Sunday at Zion Baptist Church.  Official White House photo. The First Family is known to visit area DC churches.  Churches the First Family have visited in our area include the 19th Street Baptist Church, Allen Chapel A.M.E., Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Shiloh Baptist, the National Cathedral,  St. John's Episcopal Church, and Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.